Singapore Shows “Active” Interest in F-35 Buy

Singapore Shows “Active” Interest in F-35 Buy: Tom Burbage, general manager of Lockheed Martin’s F-35 program, said Singapore is showing increased interest in buying their own F-35s – as China recently unveiled its second Fifth Generation fighter design (the J-31). The Southeast Asian nation became a security partner on the fighter program in 2003, along with Israel, and both countries have pledged to contribute about $50 million to development of the program. Singapore’s activity has “picked up a little bit and it makes us think that they’re going to become more active,” he told Reuters after a speech last week in Washington D.C., to the Royal Aeronautical Society at the British Embassy. Burbage added Lockheed officials were engaged in a dialogue with Singapore about its interest in buying F-35s, but there has been no formal agreement yet to a purchase order or a timeframe. Singapore would become the first Southeast Asian nation to acquire the Fifth Generation fighter. Singapore has close defense ties with the US and already fields some of the most modernized military forces in the region.